Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life or simply put, when you kill yourself willingly. A suicide attempt is when someone tries to willingly end their own life but does not die. In 2004, in the United States, there were 31,484 successful suicides, while approximately a quarter of a million people were hospitalized for suicide attempts. The most common form of suicide is carried out using a firearm (gun), accounting for 55% of all deaths. Other frequent forms of suicide are suffocation (for example: hanging), poison and blunt trauma (for example: jumping to one's death).
Men are four times more likely to die from suicide than women--and it's the eighth leading cause of death for men. On the other hand, women are three times more likely to attempt suicide. Experts believe that this is mainly due to the different ways people attempt to kill themselves. Men are more likely to use a more violent method such as a gun or blunt trauma (jumping off a bridge or jumping in front of a train, etc). Women, however, are more likely to overdose on medication or use a less instantly fatal form of self inflicted violence, like slitting their wrists.
According to statistics, Caucasians have the highest rates of suicide followed by Native Americans. As far as age breakdowns, teens and seniors (those over 65 years of age) also have high rates of suicide.
